We'll always roam
by SurrenderToFahrenheit
Summary: With different people there are different situations... Different creatures... Different realities. And sometimes, you just have to have somewhere to start when you want to find the truth, don't you? But Winter doesn't have that. She only has her beating heart and the wings on her back. Calla and other characters still exist.
1. Introduction

**I know... I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO HATE THIS HALF WAY THROUGH AND TURN BACK WITH A DISGUSTED SNORT. But seriously, if you have something that hugely irritates you, calmly put it in a pm or review, and I'll try to work on it. Thanks for reading this far.**

**None of the characters from the books are mentioned in this chapter, but it shouldn't be too long before I join this plot line and that one.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own the idea of Guardians, Searchers, Keepers, or anything of the sort (Nightshade series in general). I do however own characters such as Winter and Rory, and any other OC's that will be mentioned.**

* * *

She sighed as the steady trail of leaves continued to gradually fall and settle on the frost-covered grass, more than one having already taken it's not-so-rightful place over her sprawled-out. She huffed as one particularly persistence red-brown leaf landed directly in the middle of her tan forehead.

"So, I see the whole thing about getting money for yourself is going well? Or is scattering piles of raked-up leaves your new pass-time?" An obnoxious voice called from across the lawn that she had taken residence in.

She growled something, thankfully unheard, under her breath as she pushed off the ground and started towards the road, half-wrecked combat boots hitting the pavement in an angry rhythm.

"You know, whoever paid you to sort their garden out wont be very pleased if you just leave." The obnoxious voice called out again, the sound of pounding feet following her steps.

"Oh, come on Winter! You know I'm only kidding!" It called yet again.

She, Winter, rolled her eyes at the ridiculous boys antics, but still spun on her heel to face him. He paused in his descent, a hint of mischief behind his brown eyes, copper hair mused and a cheeky grin pulled over his pale lips.

"What do you _want_, Rory?" She sniffed.

"Only your unconditional servitude, peasant." Rory drawled, giving her a mocking look.

"Watch it, Glider." She returned, hitting him lightly around the back of the head. He mock gasped in return, clutching at his heart with a dramatic flare.

"You had to go there, didn't you? Didn't you?" He whined, stumbling off the pavement with his head thrown back in a mournful cry.

She snorted slightly, prancing on her heel and continuing down the road, towards the shadow-filled forest that loomed over the town the human's lived in, miles off Winter's own home. As she was doing so, the slight echo of a faraway roar echoed around, not audible to the human ear.

"Well, I have no plans of sticking around to deal with you. I, actually, intend to go on a fly. Don't follow me." She growled, her tone becoming dark again.

She didn't look back to see his hurt expression, instead heading through the towering trees until she reached a reasonably sized glade, barely big enough for her purpose.

With a great leap, she let her inner 'beast', of sorts, appear, great wings unfolding from her back, ears growing backwards, a powerful tail making it's appearance from the bottom of her spine, face growing out and her vision becoming more attuned.

With a great roar, she uncurled her wings and took to the air, listening to nothing but the air rushing past her ears as she looped through the high altitude.

* * *

**Oh my gawd... You read to here. And I thank you. If you hate it, tell me why, please, but only if you would like to, of course). I just write because I have nothing better to do...**

**That was a lie, I had this idea during a class and couldn't be asked to do much, so here it is. **

**Sorry if I hurt your intelligence.**

**Oh, and I guess it would be easy to guess that Winter's a guardian, and what kind of guardian she is- not any of the ones mentioned in the book.**


	2. Chapter One

**By the way, 'Gliders' are lower ranked Guardians. If you're a 'Blaze' you're the highest rank possible in Guardian society (Like an Alpha for the Haldis Guardians.) and other Guardians obey you. You also take orders directly from the Keepers, unlike Gliders.  
**

**And in case you didn't understand, it's Autumn. Winter was raking up the leaves on someone's lawn for money.**

**Another thing, if, anywhere, it reads 'Thank gawd', it's the same as 'Thank god' (as in relief) but I'm not actually Christian and I've had times before when me saying that actually offends people, so.. **

* * *

After a few short minutes of simply enjoying the opportunity to escape the harsh grip of the land below her, Winter twisted to the side, letting a slight blast of flame into the air as a streak of midnight blue scales tore through the air just below her.

Not one to be bested, she dove into a sharp downwards spiral, crashing into her scaled companion who gave a deep roar, flipping them so she was taking a quick route straight into the hard earth.

"Why do you insist do this every time we fly together?" His gruff tone broke through her mental barriers as she levered her wings out, settling into a spin and letting the wind carry her back to his level.

"Because you tempt me to do so, Tate. You're the one who makes everything a challenge... I just rise to it." She sniffed stubbornly, Tate himself returning the motion with a shake of his great head.

"Then maybe you should learn not to, darlin' " His deep chuckle trickled through the mental bond that had been formed.

She growled growled in response, flapping her monstrous wings and diving at her fellow Guardian, who, in return, linked his talons along what would have been arms had she been human and flung her forwards. Winter quickly reacted however, lashing her back feet against one of his wings and bringing him into her glorious free-fall.

They continued to fall until they were almost at the tree line, where they separated, Winter shifting back into human form and landing in the safe confines of a, luckily, still somewhat leaf-covered tree. Tate, however, made a clear effort to straighten out, instead crashing straight through some of the higher trees, tumbling down and destroying various parts of the landscape as he crashed through the pines.

Winter poked her head up from the tree, flicking a strand of hair out of her face and peering through the shaded forest. She shrugged to herself, throwing an arm around one of the branches and swinging her legs out, landing with a barely audible thud and wincing as a slight sting raced through her feet.

She flicked her eyes over the forest landscape again.

"Tate? Tate, where are you?" She called, (now significantly softer) voice echoing through the thick greenery, sounding almost disembodied. The response she received was nothing more than a low groan. She took a quick breath. _Thank gawd_. She followed the direction the groan had came from, any worries she had left dissolving when she came across the scene in front of her. She simply looked on for a few moments, before dispersing into howling laughter. Sprawled over a bed of flattened leaves, twigs and the occasional branch, was Tate, who's unfortunate fall had taken the majority of plant life along with him. He glared at her with piercing blue eyes that reminded Winter of the deepest oceans, shaking out black-blue hair, a fair amount more tameable than Rory's mess of what he liked to believe was hair, but still quite a bit longer.

"Just shut up, Winter" He growled in a low tone, pushing himself up and struggling out of the mass of forestry. The last of Winter's roaring laughter faded into the very shadows, leaving only an amused grin.

"What is it with you Gliders today? Acting like such scandalous little mice" She speculated.

"Wait, since when are we mice? _Mice?_ You call us scandalous, _Blaze_, but you have a lot of gull yourself!" he proclaimed, jumping forward and tackling her to the ground. She broke in laughter again, leaping out of the dirt that rose around them and making a break through the trees. Tate gave a yell and charged after her, but he, too, had succumbed to laughter.

They slowed as they reached the tree line, this time on the other side of the forest from where Winter had entered.

She sighed, the only visible sign of the house that all the Guardians of her side of the mountain shared being the smoke rising into the chilly evening evening air from the barely visible dip that was the small valley just in front of the mountain closest to them.

They glanced at each other, deep blue eyes meeting icey grey. Winter was the first to speak.

"Last back cooks for _everyone_"...And the two of them took of running.


	3. Chapter Two

**This chapter is probably quite confusing because I messed up by starting it in first person, as in _I_ instead of what would usually be _She_. I've decided that this chapter will all be in first person, but I plan to make it so it goes back to normal. Unless it turns out that I prefer it this way. Thanks for reading. Oh, and the house mentioned at the end of the last chapter isn't inhabited by just Winter and Tate; all of the other members too.**

* * *

The next day came too quickly and all too soon it was time for my first lesson of the day. The school was a mass of _decently_ sized brick buildings, placed strategically in the tip between the two primary mountain that separated the territory of the two different Guardian groups- My 'group', per say, one side of the school, the group ruled by another Blaze taking the other side. More than once, we had been more simply referred to by the Keeper's as simply North or West - Us being West. The humans from the nearby towns attended too, but to say the_ very least_, they knew nothing about any of us.

Anyway, like I said, I was heading to my first lesson, Biology, like I always had first thing on Monday. I was going to said lesson alongside one of the other West members, Lillia, the only other female dragon Guardian I'd ever known. I understand you may be confused as to how that works, considering I must have parents, and It's not like my mother died dramatically during my birth... but the reality is a story for another time.

We strolled down the school corridors at a leisurely pace, laughing at something another West member had said yesterday over dinner. By then, we were used to the stares of the humans... they could tell we were different, but they could never tell exactly how. So they just stared.

The whole illusion of freedom and happiness was shattered as my eyes locked with those of a mid-height, plain looking boy, leaning against the fire-truck red lockers at the end of the corridor, and looking to any other person but me, completely innocent.

Sometimes, I envy the humans. They live such simple lives, taking everything for granted, thinking they know what's around them; but they never do. They may be oblivious to how everything really works, but at least they don't know that around every corner stands something that could put an end to their short lives... because at least, that way, they aren't terribly paranoid... and I hate to admit, but sometimes, I am.

I haven't paid attention to the life forms around me for a long time, some would say too long, but staring into the malicious eyes of the man who orchestrated my life like a some kind of diabolic puppeteer, I'm forced to.

He smirked.

I flinched.

He pushed off the wall.

I tensed.

He put a foot forward.

I took a swift step back.

"Winter... Are you alright?" Lillia questioned, her bright emerald green eyes staring into mine with a slight hint of worry. I took a step back again, blinking around the corridor. It was almost completely empty.

"If you would, Lillia, run along, you wouldn't want to be late, would you now?" A clear, strident voice drawled from behind her.

"N-no, I'll, uh, go now" She stuttered, turning and hurrying down the corridor, only pausing to throw a panicked look back at me quickly, before she continued. _Thanks for sticking around, Lillia. _I though somewhat sarcastically, but I knew it was for the better; had she disobeyed, she could've dug herself quite a snake-filled hole.

I almost flinched again as he took another step forward, reaching his hand and twirling a snow white curl around his finger. _Don't show weakness._

"Well don't you look... different. Sort of punk rock. I like it." I didn't have to look at his face to tell he was wearing a smirk. It practically _dripped_ from his words, like venom.

"As you can imagine, the fact that you like my 'punk rock' choice of clothes makes me want to start a parade, Johar." I regained my front, pushing all of my previous thoughts to the back of my mind and letting my position as a leader over take my fear, if that's quite what it was. He gave a deep chuckle, releasing the curl and stroking a finger down my cheek. I flinched back but he wrapped an arm around my waist and held me against him.

"Remember that you serve _me_, Guardian." He whispered into my ear, a clear hint of a threat lingering behind his words.

I nodded quickly, fighting the urge to show him just how much I could do; It may have been everything I was born to do, to shift there and then and burn him to a crisp, and it would have been amazing in that moment, but after that... I would have been destroyed, completely. We, Guardians, may have an initial advantage, but the Keepers... They had so many ways of bringing us to our knees.

"Well, I'm glad. I just had a message for you to relay to your... friends. If you see anyone who's not meant to be here... Wolves, Searchers... Kill them, instantly." He took a step backwards. "I expect to see you tonight. Don't bother bringing the rest of your little group... You know why." He muttered in an undertone, before he turned and continued on his way, leaving me alone in the corridor.

I squeezed my eyes shut, crossing my arms over her stomach in an a weak attempt to stop the feelings of sickness that had began to churn at his last words.

_I can't do this._

And with that thought, I took off running through the corridor, straight out of the main doors and through the school gate, ignoring the calls of a passing teacher, and pelted into the forest, letting my instincts take over, ice-like, white-silver scales covering my whole body, wings growing out from my back and crystal like talons protruding. I didn't give the bellowing roar I usually would have; I didn't want anyone to know I was out there. I didn't want anyone to know what I had to do, the way I had to serve the Keeper, Johar, like no one else had to. I hated myself for it, for not finding a way out of this life. I always looked for one, again and again, but there was nothing. I had no choice.

Everything ran through my head as I sped through the air, the thoughts overwhelming and painful. I already knew of the other Guardians, there had been one around before; A panther. He was older than me, as I had been a mere 14 years of age at the time. He wasn't old, necessarily, no older than 17. His name was Lowell. I met him in the forest, we talked, laughed. He told me all about the other Guardians; but he never told me why he was in the mountains and not his home.

The excitement was short lived, however. A mere hour later, after they had parted ways, all the Guardians, including me, were informed that if they were to see a panther Guardian on the mountain territory, they were to be killed on sight, no questions asked. Just like I'd been told to do with the wolves, and the same thing we were practically hard wired to do with the Searchers.

And why? No one knows. At least, not any of _us_.

The panther, Lowell, was killed. But not by me... His killer, Sable, was another dragon, another Blaze and the leader of North. I remember finding both of them, Lowell having taken his panther form, _laying, torn to almost unrecognisable shreds under Sable's snarling jaws._

I shook out my head, trying to physically escape the horrible memory.

I took a sharp turn, trying to follow the strong winds of the storm I hadn't noticed when I first took off, with everything bouncing around my mind.

The sound of the fierce winds shooting through the mountain mountain greenery resembled screams; I spun away from the dark clouds, fighting to not be dragged around by the pure power of the storm. I failed. I plunged, swooping towards the top of the mountains to avoid it, and found myself knocked painfully onto one of the flat grooves at the top of one of the mountains, smashing into the far wall and desperately trying to regain balance as the rocks crashed down around me.

I was too slow, and all too quickly I was pinned under the weight of all of rock wall I had disturbed.

**Trapped.**


End file.
